Guess Who Is Having A Birthday?

Yep... Carol Sue's (a.k.a. Missy)70th birthday is today. She has survived 40 years of teaching... Her hairy legged, ornery baby boy... and yours truly.

Carol I hope you have many, many more year with us to laugh, love and play and each year gets easier and better for you.

What Happened?

Chloe knew I was going to be gone for more than the afternoon when I got out my luggage to pack…

Suess knew, too…

You’d think that I was gonna be gone forever.  I told them I’d be back in just a few days but they don’t understand about birthdays.I came south to Fort Worth to visit with my family and do an early birthday celebration since my baby brother that shares my birthday has to work on Saturday.  I got up this morning and it was like deja vu all over again…

That’s my little pickup…  at 12:30 a.m.   I looked outside and it was so light and beautiful I grabbed my camera and went out in my jeans and a tee shirt to get “just a few” pictures.

I saw the street light shining on the snowy trees and I had to get my camera and see if I could capture the look of it to share with you all.  Then I would look and see something else…

And then look over here…

And how about over there?

The mail box and then with my hand in the shot for comparison…

Well, Bennett decided he couldn’t stand it for me to be out taking pictures without him getting in on the fun.

(photo by B. T. Gardner) Gotta give credit where credit is due.

We took pictures in the front, then the back…

The bird feeders…

The chiminea and the patio peach tree…

How about gathering around the patio table for a visit?

There are also lounge chairs around the pool…

And the bird bath that earlier in the day was being used by a morning dove to get a drink.  I didn’t have my camera at hand when my s.i.l. Diane yelled at Ben and me to come look… you’d see the dove looking around, then it would put it’s head down for a drink and you could barely see it’s back.

Snow on the back fence… note the tiki torch on the left side of the picture.  When we decided to go back out front I grabbed my coat and put it on and out we went and what did we find but an elephant frog…

This yard art frog that my middle Bro and I got for Ben for a birthday… there was so much snow that Diane and I decided that it looked like a green elephant. 

Ben got out his tripod to set up some timed pictures because there was no wind to deal with and the lightness of the night was too beautiful to pass up…

This was about a 20 second exposure.  I stood as still as I could.  This tree in their front yard is absolutely beautiful and we are praying that the limbs don’t break under the weight of the snow.  (photo by B.T. Gardner)

Another timed shot, about 30 seconds.  (photo by B.T. Gardner) This was taken about 12:45 a.m.

This is another one 30 second picture of the trees and the street light taken from up towards the front of the front yard…

              (courtesy again, B.T.Gardner)

Ben setting up for a timed photo… note the flannel lounge pants and an overcoat.  We know how to dress for the weather…

Another of Ben that I shot.  He would set up his shot and then hold his hands over his camera to try to protect it a bit from the snow.

For the really big finish to this extra long post… one more that Ben took with me on a timed shot…  I’m still 64 in this photo.

On Saturday I won’t be able to claim 64 any more but that’s okay since I don’t feel it or most times don’t act like it… and, like I told my baby brother, what a gift we were given to be able to share this night a day before our birthday. (Photo courtesy of B.T. Gardner)

Amen.

Today It's All About The "Twins"...

My mom and dad, about the time they started working on their last two (of six) children. They were not deterred by the first four children, first a son, then a daughter, another son and another daughter.

They decided they wanted more... I'm not sure that they were ready for what they got, but they always swore that they loved us.



This, I'm sure, is what they wanted... All spiffy and hair combed and curled, me in a nice little dress, my baby brother in an age appropriate suit and a clean white shirt.

It was boy, girl, boy, girl until I came along to mess up the order of their lives on this day in 1945. They gave it (at least) one last shot, as it were, and on this same day in 1948 my baby brother was born.

Dad was ecstatic, he had 6 of the 8 children he wanted. There were 3 boys and 3 girls. Mom and the doctor said if he wanted 2 more to make it 8, he could have them. After all, mom was 36 when I was born and 39 when Bennett was born. Enough is enough, especially when the last 2 could think up and get into more orneriness than the first 4 put together.

All my sibs and I are tight. All in different ways. Baby brother and I have a special bond. The same birthday, twins, seperated by three years. I teased him for a long time that since he was born on my birthday, a Friday the Thirteenth, it took me years to decide it was good luck. But if you look close at the photos, you know what I know... It was great luck. For me, anyway, and I think he would agree.

My daddy said that when he came home and told me I had a baby brother for my birthday, he asked what I wanted for the next birthday... he swore that I told him twins.

I don't remember getting a baby brother for my birthday, after all, there was a mess of us kids already and I probably wasn't too impressed with another brother. I do remember, however, that I got my first pair of cowboy boots. Now THAT, to me, was impressive.

Now the first pair of boots has long ago bit the dust, but that bond with my brother, my twin three years removed, has done nothing but grow over the last 61 years.

So Happy Birthday Baby Brother, my 61 year old baby brother, from your 64 year old big sister. If we still had the boxing gloves we could go another round.

Oh, yeah... THIS is what mom and dad got... a bare-footed baby girl with fine, unruly hair and a dressed to the nines WITH a hat baby boy.



Aren't birthdays GREAT!!!